, 1887-08-23
HOW MEN LIVE AND DIE.
PecuIIarIties of the Worlds Records Of
MortnlIty-VItal Statistics.

PeouIIarIties of the Worlds Records Of
MortnlIty-vItal Statistics.
Scarcely a day passes when DR.. John
T. Maggie, deputy registrar of vital statis-
tics, does not receive a bulletin or pam
phlet showing the state of public health
in some more or less remote country. In
return he sends information to almost
every civilized government on earth. His
little Office in Mott street is filled with
choice documents, written in English,
German, French, Portuguese, Spanish,
Russian, Roumanian, Danish, Swedish,
Hungarian, Italian and other tongues.
Complicated tables come in ~avalanches
from Great Britain and her colonies in all
quarters of the globe. A report from
Calcutta shows that the "Amalgamated
busbee and tank committee met four
times during the first quarter Of the fiscal
year 1861. There is a bibulous sug-
gestion about the title of this useful body
which is not diminished by the statement
tia. two of their meetings were held out
Of doors.
Of all the European countries Rou-
mania is the most industrious in the
Es Iufacture OF statistics. She sends out
every year dozens of volumes bound in
r.gly colored paper, zach bearing the i'm
mt of the government bureau which is
led it. Finland is determined that no
ue shall be- kept in doubt as to her exact
condition. In vast deserts of ten and
twelve syllable words is an occasional
ua.is of French, which gives a general
idea Of what the Finnish statistician is
trying 30 get at. Private lunatic asylums
are ''yleisten sairachuoneiden lasaretti
osnstoissa, " and public madhouses 'thal-
Observation-Disclosures. Official reports
from SeIvia are printed in letters which
had a narrow escape from being Greek.
Consonants, particularly h and 81"
are trewn with IN u~nsparing hand
through the Swedish compilation. The
Latin names of diseases are given in con-
nection with the Swedish, and a reader
who pays his money may take his choice.
Tub Observation-Disclosures" is a
fashionable lung disease, and 'fyellerigal
anskap" is delirium tremens. Protracted
drinking brings a Swede to alcoholics
jukdom, and a Dane to haeardevinssyg-
dom. When a Stockholm citizen sue
cumbs to old age the doctor writes
MISUNDERSTANDING" on the death GER
t~iicate, and everybody knows what the
trouble was. Neatly printed and volumin-
Gus reports como from Central and South
America, Venezuela, Colombia and the
Argentine Republic issue documents in
sonorous Spanish. Little Guatemala
official pamphlets nave gorgeou red bor-
dcrs.
The unspeakable Turk has a soul above
figures, and never takes the pains to find
cut the sanitary condition of his empire.
There is n story of n United States consul
in . Turkish town who asked the local
pasIa for estimates of the population.
IN ~ characteristic reply, beginning "Oh,
my lamb the pasha said that he had
dwelt for forty years in the city, yet he
had never counted the houses over the
people that dwelt therein. He failed to
see why any man should seek after infor-
nation not vouchsafed by the wisdom OF
Allah.
Several years ago DIR. Maggie says re-
ports from China and Japan were printed
in the v%ernacular. Now those interest
ing countries send TO barbarian lands
hard facts in good English. The Celestial
empire shows n weakness for brilliant
yellow covers, like those of an old time
dime novel. But the medical reports o.
the Chinese cities, garnished with mete
geological ables and temperature chart
that look like maps of a yacht race, con
tain matter more interesting than any,
thing in yellow covered fiction. DR.. A,
Henry, treating of the health of Ichang,
says that although the scenery is majestic
and imposing, the filthy habits of the ma,
tlves give 10 the place unhealthy, NAL,
OlOrulls and unTsthetiC features. The
pc"ll" are strong, but drink hard and
ruuk" much opium. They never battle
III water, but build fires in the open all
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